Andu
"how many more boatloads of high-paying hopefuls would have set out from Indonesia over the last three years".
My sincere apologies, when you mentioned Indonesia, I thought you meant Indonesia.
As Cap Claret is alluding to, according to the United Nations Refugee Convention, the mode of transport (commercial jet) and the "very large amounts of money" they paid to reach Australia has no relevance to whether or not they are seeking asylum. Similarly, it does not matter how many other countries they flew over en route.
Latham, if elected, is compelled to treat asylum seekers according to international law and convention, something the present government has not done. However, being a politician, he will twist the situation, muddy the waters and deceive the people in order to make it a political issue supporting his agenda of the day. Why would you expect anything more.